My work is full on at the moment! So I need to shorten the chapters if I want to update as often!
It took me a long time to write this one, I really didn't know how I wanted it to go. So here goes nothing!
It was silent in the changing room, all eyes were on the still shirtless Takaba as he plopped himself on the couch against the wall.
Ibiki let out a breath and made his way out the door, "Come Mutou, Shuuhei, let's let them clear this up."
Shuuhei gave Akihito a nod that said 'yell if you need me' and left with Ibiki, who had given him the same look.
"Like hell I am leaving Akihito with these chumps!" Mutou planted his feet.
Master Yamato spoke this time, his voice flat "Get out boy before I drag you out by your ear. He can take care of himself."
Knowing a threat from his Sensei was no joke, Mutou gave in. He put his shirt on and gathered his bag before kneeling down in front of Akihito. He placed a firm hand on Akihito's knee and leant in next to his ear, whispering so that only Akihito could hear, "You show these bastards who you've become, Akihito. Make them acknowledge you."
With a tight squeeze of Akihito's knee, he got up, casual as anything and walked out of the room like Asami and the others didn't even exist.
Asami watched the impressive behemoth as he spoke quietly into Akihito's ear, not impressed with the quiet exchange. Whatever he said seemed to ease Akihito's mind, because the blond gave him a grateful smile before he left the room.
"Feilong, Yoh and the two big lugs, you too." Master Kensei eyed them all with a challenge in his eyes. Suoh and Kirishima balked under the elder's gaze.
"It's ok Sensei, Suoh and Kirhishima can stay if they want, they deserve an explanation too."
"If you say so boy, just make sure you sort it once and for all. Feilong come."
Feilong took one last look at Asami and Akihito before swiftly turning to leave with Yoh at his heel.
Four of them were left in the room, three pairs of eyes looked down on Takaba, Kirishima looked impatient, Suoh impassive as ever, and Asami just looked like, well, Asami, not phased by anything.
"Shit, I'd rather fight Sagong for a few more rounds then go through that again. Sit down will ya!" Akihito gestured to the seats throughout the room, Suoh didn't move a muscle, Kirishima just pushed his glasses back up his nose, and Asami took a seat on the couch opposite Akihito, he lounged back lazily as if he owned the place. Typical Asami.
"Talk, Akihito. Two long years and then you turn up in Tokyo without a word."
Takaba gathered his calm and thought before answering, looking Asami straight in the eye.
"… Truthfully, I thought I was all right back then, but I really wasn't. I was jumping at shadows, even the cars backfiring made me want to duck for cover. Ha, Pitiful right? So I planned to travel Japan and take photos, clear my head, but that kinda failed big time and then Mutou found me."
"Failed how?"
Takaba paused, not breaking eye contact. "… He found me getting the shit kicked out of in an alley outside Nagoya, they took everything, even my cameras…. I… didn't fight back once. " There, he said it, he still hadn't admitted out loud that he had given up that day, until now.
"That doesn't explain the fact you didn't come to me for help before that."
"I wasn't gonna come crawling back to you, I am a man! I wanted to stand on my own feet without any ones help."
"And that took you two years did it? Akihito, I gave you the key to my home."
"And you took all my stuff without asking, I am not a pet you can just move in cos you feel like it! If you wanted me to move in, I just might have if you asked me like a normal person! I already felt like I had lost all control, only to come home and have everything I own taken away. I lost it Asami, so I bolted. I don't know what else you want me to say." Takaba threw his hands up in exasperation.
"I lost a lot of money for you, Takaba."
"Well, there's the difference between you and I, Asami. You can't place a value on human life. It's not some object to be traded and owned. You can't blame me for wanting to break away from that."
"Is that really what you thought back then Akihito? I gave out millions for you, risked my life to come for you, gave you the key to my house, who I have never given to anyone but you, and you thought of yourself as an object?" Asami asked deadpan.
"You said it yourself, that I was just your thing and you didn't like when other people took what belonged to you. Plus you really think I was in the right frame of mind after Hong Kong?"
The room went back to silence, and Asami was about to light a cigarette until Akihito stood up to glide across the room and plucked it out of his mouth.
"This place is for athletes, so no smoking." he flicked it towards the bin in the corner.
Asami looked up at Akihito standing before him, the first time he really got to see him up close. Still with no shirt on, he stood casually, confident in his own skin, his hands were calloused from hard work, and his skin was unblemished and smooth, the muscles defined underneath told of his dedication and willpower to get such a physique. His demeanor said that he didn't care what anyone thought of him, he was his own person, there wasn't a shred of arrogance however, just a person who wouldn't be looked down upon.
Akihito turned his back on the three men to finally pick up a shirt and slip it over his head. Not before each of them saw the distinct set of bruises on either side of his back that looked like finger marks.
Suoh's jaw hit the floor, Kirishima's followed suit and Asami had one eyebrow raised slightly in a quizzical expression. Did Akihito top over Mutou Ryuhei?
The question was voiced in all their minds at once.
"Hey… what's that look for?" Akihito had turned around now, and was putting on his hoodie with the Strike MMA logo on the back, not realizing what the men had seen.
"You talk to Feilong before you come to me. Why?" Asami carried on with his questions, he would find the answer to the other question later.
Akihito stood and thought about it for a few moments before sighing and answering.
"… haha well, I flipped Feilong on his ass the first time I saw him again, it helped my self esteem a bit, and… Feilong wasn't as much of an obstacle to.. I dunno. Get over. I can't explain it. It's not like I didn't like you, and I am grateful you came for me, I just feel like you ripped my life away from me Asami, and tore it into tiny little pieces. Feilong, not so much. Tonight, I feel like I finally redeemed myself enough to say I've come home, maybe I would have come to you afterwards, I can't say, though I thought you'd probably forgotten all about me anyway," Takaba steeled himself before continuing.
"So if you want to talk to me Asami, do it like a normal person, cos I wont take it lying down if you pull that shit like you did earlier again. I am not a thing, I am a person, and I will be treated like one." Akihito spoke with a solid resolve, his self-confidence expressed in his words and in his tone, and even though his explanation about Feilong sounded unsure, Asami knew he was telling the truth. His eyes were still honest and open.
"Well, if that's all you want, I'm gonna get going. I'm so hungry my stomach is eating itself!" Takaba picked up his bag and walked for the door before turning around.
"Asami, it's good to see you haven't been shot dead or anything like that at least." Takaba left them all in their silence.
Asami did light his Dunhill this time, thinking back over the conversation. He sat like that for a while, just thinking, before he too got up and left.
The next morning in the apartment above the dojo, everyone in the house was getting ready to head to the gym in Ikebukuro for a meeting and a morning spar. Takaba was just about to head out the door before everyone else, he opened it as someone in a suit was just about to knock, he had a large box with him.
"Ah! Hello, you gave me a fright, who are you?"
"Takaba Akihito?" the man questioned.
"Umm yup that's me." Akihito cocked his head.
The man gave the box to Akihito without a word and left. Curious, Akihito ripped the box open right there in the doorway. He wasn't expecting anything.
The box was filled with his favorite flavor of pocky, there was also some vouchers for the place that served the best sushi in Shibuya.
Akitho rummaged around until he found an envelope. His jaw dropped as he opened it to read the note inside:
Takaba Akihito.
I believe I didn't congratulate you for last night, welcome home.
Asami.
The four men were in the locker room at their gym, getting changed into their training gears for a quick spar to loosen up from the night before.
"Hey, Akihito, that's not what I think it is on your back is it?" Shuuhei asked as Takaba took his shirt off.
"Ha? What?"
Mutou started snickering in the corner.
Perplexed, Akihito jumped up on one of the bench seats so he could see his back in the high mirror across the room.
"Ah what the fuck Mutou! You did that while I was helping you stretch after the fights last night!"
"Haha, hey! You nearly snapped my bloody hamstring, you leant into the stretch too fast so I had to grip on, it fucking hurt, so that is your payback, those guys saw it didn't they?"
Suddenly comprehension filled Akihito's face, the looks on Asami and the other twos faces last night after he turned his back on them.
He turned a slight shade of pink, realizing what they had been thinking.
"Mutou you bastard, I'll kill you!" The smaller blonde chased the laughing giant out of the changing room, chaos ensued throughout the gym as everyone looked on. The morning spar momentarily forgotten.
It was an hour later and a half later, sparring was over, people were changed and showered and everyone sat in Sakaki's office for the meeting.
Sakaki looked serious, and he had a lot of paperwork stacked in front of him.
"Well, good work last night boys, a nice clean sweep as expected. I will cut to the chase, I have here paperwork for all your next proposed match ups if you so wish. There have been heaps of bout requests since last night, even for you Takaba. As such, there is a sufficient amount, some from titleholders, which means it could set you up well for title fights of your own. Look over the paperwork, it means a lot of travelling, but it would be a good campaign for you all, after all, this is what you have been working for isn't it."
He gave a small pile to Mutou, Ibiki and Shuuhei who accepted without hesitation before offering one to Akihito.
"Just look over them Takaba, you don't need to decide anything yet."
Akihito looked down at his own folder, it seemed relatively thick, full of people that wanted to pin themselves against him. Did that many people really want to fight him? Some of the fights listed were in Thailand, America, and Europe, Sakaki had listed the inventory all out. Takaba could end up with the welterweight title of Asia, and Europe if he did well, he would leave in 3 months and he had 3 weeks to make the decision.
He had only just come home, did he really want to leave again in only 3 months?
Asami sat at his desk at the Sion office and sifted through the weekend paper. He skimmed over financial reports and news lines until he finally got to the sport section at the back. The first headline was of the MMA fight in Tokyo last night, there were various photos of the matches and a particularly good one of when Takaba was being interviewed afterwards, he had the smile on his face from when he talked about eating sushi and pocky with the commentator, the caption underneath talked about the lively young blonde who loved junk food. Asami smirked, the whole world knew Akihito now.
He put the paper down to answer a call he had been expecting.
"Asami speaking."
"Package delivered sir."
"Fufu good, let's hope he doesn't eat it all at once." He hung up and called for Kirishima, who entered almost instantly.
"Yes boss?"
"Kirishima, arrange a visit one morning this week to the MMA gym that Akihito trains at. Keep it anonymous."
"Consider it done Asami sama."
Moscow, Russia.
Yuri sifted through the paperwork on the desk looking for the documents Mikhail had forgotten to bring to the meeting with the transport agent.
The desk was a mess, and Yuri was about to give up before he thought he should look in the bottom draw just in case.
He picked up the stack of paper and found what he was looking for on the bottom, just as he was about to put the rest away a few photos fell out and scattered across the floor.
Yuri's jaw clenched as he picked them up and saw who was pictured.
It was the disgusting boy from Hong Kong two years ago. The bullet wounds still ached from where Asami Ryuichi had shot him because of that damned brat.
Why was such a vile person still alive? Yuri pocketed the photos as an idea formed in his mind.
He walked out the door with the paperwork that Mikhail wanted.